A promising peep at Covid-19 vaccine efficacy

Pfizer–BioNTech’s will need to be one of many if we are to overcome the pandemic

BY PHILLIP BROADWITH11 NOVEMBER 2020
OPINION

Pfizer and BioNTech’s early peek at the effectiveness of their Covid-19 vaccine is encouraging, but there’s still a long way to go before a vaccine will be widely available.

From this first glimpse at how things are going in trials, it seems that the vaccine will offer good levels of protection against the disease. Out of 43,500 people so far enrolled on the trial, over 90 have subsequently tested positive for Covid-19. Most of them had received a placebo, not the vaccine. The companies say this suggests the vaccine is at least 90% effective at preventing people from developing the disease.

As the trial progresses, with larger numbers of infections and more robust data analysis, we will get a better idea of how accurate this number is. However, efficacy is not the only reason for running these trials – safety is a huge factor. The US Food and Drug Administration has been clear that it needs to see a minimum of two months’ data after people are given their second dose of vaccine before it will consider applications for an Emergency Use Authorisation. Pfizer’s chief executive Albert Bourla projects that this will happen around the third week of November.

Even if all goes smoothly in the trial, there are still massive logistical hurdles to overcome. This vaccine is not going to be the answer for everyone, by any means. While the companies have been investing heavily in developing manufacturing capacity, this would be the first time such an RNA-based vaccine has been produced and distributed. Expecting everything to go without a hitch is probably wishful thinking. The fact that it needs to be stored at –70°C makes this especially difficult.

Maintaining cold chain transport for products kept at regular freezer or refrigerator temperatures is hard enough. But the need for specialised ultra-cold freezers and transport will severely limit where and how quickly the Pfizer­–BioNTech vaccine can be deployed. Most likely it will, at least to begin with, be limited to large hospitals in developed countries with access to the necessary infrastructure.

Given that the people most desperately in need of vaccine protection are probably healthcare workers, this isn’t all that bad. But it does exaggerate the inequalities already present in global healthcare systems, almost automatically excluding remote areas and lower income countries even if their need is as great or greater.

Perhaps the most promising aspect of this preliminary view is the fillip it gives the other vaccines in development. It indicates that vaccines can work against the virus, even if the safety and efficacy profiles will vary. Given that several of the other vaccines in late stage trials should be simpler to manufacture and distribute, that can only be good news all round.

Phillip BroadwithBusiness editor, Chemistry World

Biden’s pivot to science is welcome — Trump only listened to experts when it suited him

November 11, 2020 

In his acceptance speech at the weekend, US President-Elect Joe Biden signalled a return to science as a key policy shift for the United States.

“Americans have called on us to […] marshal the forces of science and the forces of hope in the great battles of our time,” he said, assuring the public the Biden-Harris COVID plan “will be built on the bedrock of science”.

His message, on its surface, is a response to the Trump administration’s disdain for scientific advice, most notably in the COVID response and withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.

But Biden’s remarks are deeper and more interesting than a simple spruik for science-led policy.

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A track record of ignoring evidence

Is Trump’s administration anti-scientific? Yes and no.

According to a report compiled by the journal Science, the Trump White House has indeed pursued an agenda of suppressing science by slashing funding. But this agenda has been largely unsuccessful.

During Trump’s term, funding for the National Institutes for Health rose by 39% and the budget for the National Science Foundation rose by 17%. This is explained, at least in part, by Congress resisting the White House’s efforts to defund science.

Setting aside direct attacks on funding, the Trump administration has also positioned itself as anti-science in other, more visible ways.

It has a track record of ignoring scientific advice on issues ranging from the deadliness of COVID, to the impact of human activity on the climate, to the bizarre “Sharpiegate” episode in which Trump apparently used a marker pen to alter the forecast track of Hurricane Dorian.
The rightwing QAnon conspiracy is part of a wider trend of disdain for facts and evidence. Dario Lopez-MIlls/AP

Cherry picking to suit an agenda

Yet it would be wrong to paint Trump as unequivocally anti-science.

He poured money into quantum computing and artificial intelligence, and invested heavily in space exploration, promising a return to the Moon this decade. And, at the risk of stretching this argument beyond breaking point, he called on civil engineering to deliver his Mexican border wall.

Trump also used science to win an election. Let’s not forget the pivotal role of Cambridge Analytica in his victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. A mixture of data science and empirical psychology delivered voters to Trump in the millions.

While it is difficult to know exactly what methods Cambridge Analytica used, it is possible that a method known as psychographic targeting was part of their approach. This involves analysing users’ behaviour on social media sites such as Facebook — for example, by tracking the content that individuals “like” — as a basis for delivering targeted advertising that fits a person’s personality.

It is perhaps no accident, then, that quantum computing and artificial intelligence got the thumbs-up. In the world of voter manipulation, it is hard to think of a scientific investment that would yield a better return.

Painting Trump’s administration as entirely anti-intellectual overlooks one of the key factors that delivered him electoral success in the first place. His 2016 victory was in one sense a scientific achievement, delivered by technological algorithms designed to exploit publicly available data with unprecedented effectiveness.

Such a result is absolutely repeatable. As long as methods such as psychographic targeting go unregulated in the political sphere, future candidates could leverage data science in much the way Trump did to win the White House.

Read more: Humans are hardwired to dismiss facts that don't fit their worldview
Science in the public interest

Biden’s approach is not just a pivot back to respecting expertise, but also a pledge to embrace science in the public interest. The Biden-Harris COVID plan, for example, will be founded on expert advice but will also, as Biden explained, “be constructed out of compassion, empathy and concern” 

.
On Monday, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris attended a meeting with Biden’s COVID-19 advisory council. Carolyn Kaster/AP

Hopefully this heralds an end to the use of science to achieve narrow and selfish political ends, and a return to the appropriation of science for the common good.

While I applaud the kind of science Biden wants to embrace, I daresay he faces a difficult choice. If he refuses to use science to further any partisan political ends, his party runs the risk of getting rolled in the next election by a demagogue who does not suffer the same burden of decency.

Perhaps he can get ahead of this by asking us all to have a serious conversation, on a global scale, about the use of science in winning elections.

Read more: 'Science is political': Scientific American has endorsed Joe Biden over Trump for president. Australia should take note

At the very least, we should reject the narrative that the Trump administration repudiates science in its entirety. That only makes it harder to see the danger the improper use of science poses to democracy.

We are, it is often said, living in a post-truth world. The Trump administration’s denial of evidence, and its capacity to lie about everything from coronavirus cures to election results, provide several classic examples. After four years of “alternative facts”, Biden’s vocal support for scientific expertise was a breath of fresh air.

But, perhaps unintentionally, Biden has also revealed a dangerous faultline of democracy. By positioning his administration as one that uses science only for the common good, he is tacitly acknowledging democracy’s vulnerability to science and technology.

Biden’s words remind us that technological advances threaten to propel us into a world where political differences become irreconcilable, and respect for democratic norms is not guaranteed.

AUTHOR

Sam Baron
Associate professor, Australian Catholic University

Disclosure statement
Sam Baron receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
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Yale researchers discover psychiatric diagnosis increases COVID-19 mortality


VERONICA LEE 12:03 AM, NOV 12, 2020
CONTRIBUTING REPORTER YaleNews

In a study published in the journal JAMA Network Open on Sept. 30, Yale researchers analyzed patient data from the Yale New Haven Health System to investigate a possible link between prior psychiatric diagnosis and COVID-19 mortality.

Led by assistant professor of psychiatry Luming Li and Chief of Psychiatry at Yale New Haven Hospital John Krystal, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine looked at data from 1,685 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 during a two-month period and discovered that patients with a previous psychiatric diagnosis died from COVID-19 at a significantly higher rate than those without one.

“Controlling for medical illnesses, age, sex, and other factors, psychiatric disorders were associated with an increased mortality risk from COVID-19,” Krystal wrote in an email to the News. “This analysis was important because the patients with COVID-19 and psychiatric disorders tended to be older and to have more medical illnesses.”

Although the COVID-19 outbreak began almost a year ago, this is the first study to investigate the association of psychiatric diagnosis with COVID-19 mortality, to the researchers’ knowledge. Psychiatric disorders have previously been shown to affect mortality rates of other diseases, like heart disease. Given the widespread nature of the coronavirus pandemic, studying comorbidities — both physical and mental — has become imperative for proper treatment of high-risk populations.

The researchers were inspired to conduct this study after seeing many publications that analyzed mortality rates of patients with COVID-19 and associated risk factors yet failed to address prior psychiatric disorders in their data.

“None of the studies included the variable of prior psychiatric diagnoses,” Li wrote in an email to the News. “I found this to be troubling, especially since we know many patients with psychiatric comorbidities have poorer clinical outcomes (whether related to physical health conditions or all-cause mortality).”

Thus, this new study represents a new and important opportunity for researchers to gain a better understanding of COVID-19 and its relation to non-physical health.

Although the researchers established this correlation between prior psychiatric diagnosis and COVID-19 mortality rates, the underlying cause remains unclear. According to the paper, one possible explanation is that psychiatric disorders may be indicative of a larger inflammatory issue in the body that increases mortality rate. Another possibility is that psychiatric disorders and medications that treat them may magnify the body’s inflammatory response and thus compromise the immune system.

“We are increasingly appreciating that the boundaries of ‘mind’ and ‘body’ are breaking down,” Krystal wrote. “Psychiatric disorders, like depression, are associated with increased levels of inflammation in the body. On a long-term basis, this form of inflammation can worsen diseases affecting most organs of the body.”

However, it is clear that psychiatric diagnoses have a significant impact on the mortality rate of many diseases, including COVID-19. Krystal noted that the general attitude toward psychiatric disorders must shift to recognize their detrimental effect on physical medical conditions. Such results have long been ignored by society despite strong scientific evidence, causing the physical risks associated with psychiatric disorders to be underestimated.

Dwain Fehon, associate professor of psychiatry and chief psychologist for psychiatric services at the hospital, echoed this point and emphasized the importance of narrowing the gap between mental and physical health.

“Too often, the psychiatric and mental are not factored into the medical care that people receive,” Fehon said. “This article is a great contribution to the literature because it highlights the need to create more integrated health models for patients. We simply cannot focus on just the physical. We also need to look at the mental and social context of each individual.”

Li wrote that in the future, they hope to analyze patient data for different psychiatric diagnoses — something that they were unable to do in this study. Other possible avenues for future research include looking at the effect of substance abuse on COVID-19 mortality and considering controls such as body mass index.

Fehon also said that he looks forward to seeing more in-depth analyses of similar data to those used in the study, such as taking into account which patients were receiving medical care or were on psychotropic medications at the time. In addition, he said that more research must be done regarding the mental health needs of patients who survive COVID-19 and struggle with long-term health effects, like respiratory problems and issues with cognitive functioning.

According to the National Institutes of Health, an estimated 26 percent of adults in America suffer from a diagnosable psychiatric disorder.

Veronica Lee | veronica.lee@yale.edu

#DMT
Ayahuasca Stimulates Neurogenesis In The Hippocampus, Study Shows

AYHAUSCA IS USED AS A MEDICINE BY INDIGENOUS AMAZONIAN COMMUNITIES. IMAGE: STEPHANIE LEE PANOS/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

By Ben Taub 09 NOV 2020,

A psychedelic Amazonian drink called ayahuasca has been found to promote the birth of new brain cells in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that is largely responsible for memory and learning. While the brew has been used as a spiritual sacrament for thousands of years by indigenous communities, its role as a potential treatment for neurological and emotional disorders has caused a major spike in interest within the Western scientific community in recent years.

Ayahuasca contains the psychoactive compound N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which is known to produce intense visions and hallucinations. Yet it also contains compounds like harmine and tetrahydroharmine, both of which have previously been found to stimulate the formation of neurons from stem cells in a petri dish.

Obviously, though, there’s a pretty big difference between a sterilized dish and an actual brain, which is why researchers at the Complutense University of Madrid have spent the past few years trying to figure out if the visionary brew can also spark the birth of new neurons in living hippocampi. Publishing their findings in the journal Translational Psychiatry, the study authors reveal that not only did ayahuasca promote neurogenesis in mice during their experiments, but that these rodents also performed better on memory tasks than those that had not been treated with the trippy beverage.

Neurogenesis consists of three main phases, beginning with the proliferation of neuronal stem cells to form neuroblasts in the subgranular zone (SGZ) of the dentate gyrus, which is found within the hippocampus. Next, these neuroblasts must migrate into the granular layer of the hippocampus, before differentiating into functional neurons. To determine how ayahuasca influences this process, the researchers injected the brew into the brains of mice before removing and analyzing their hippocampi.

Results showed that this caused neuronal stem cells within the SGZ to proliferate and differentiate into neurons, as well as neuronal support cells such as astroglia and oligodendrocytes. To determine whether these cells were able to migrate into the granular and become functional, the study authors injected a second group of mice with ayahuasca over a period of three weeks, before presenting them with a range of tasks that are designed to assess memory and learning.

The fact that the rodents performed better at these tasks after receiving a course of ayahuasca treatment suggests that the newly-formed neurons had indeed become functional, boosting the animals’ cognitive abilities.

According to the study authors, this finding could open the door to new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like dementia, which are characterized by a loss of neurons in key brain areas. “The challenge is to activate our dormant capacity to form neurons and thus replace the neurons that die as a result of the disease,” explained study author José Ángel Morales in a statement. “This study shows that DMT is capable of activating neural stem cells and forming new neurons.”

Furthermore, while ayahuasca’s psychedelic effects are mediated by serotonin receptors in the brain, the study authors found that the brew stimulates neurogenesis by interacting with a different receptor known as sigma-1. This is significant, as it suggests that it may be possible to trigger the formation of new neurons without tripping out.

In other words, by developing medications that bind only to sigma-1 receptors without interacting with serotonin receptors, the next generation of treatments for dementia could stimulate the formation of new neurons without sending patients on any mind-bending cosmic adventures.

First Murder Hornet Nest Found In US Riddled With 200 Queens



WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE


By Tom Hale 12 NOV 2020


After much searching, researchers have got their hands on the first “murder hornet” nest in the US and given a glimpse of what lies inside. During the dissection of the nest, the team found just under 500 hornets in various stages of development, including around 200 queens. That's particularly daunting as each of these queens could have potentially gone on to spawn new nests.

Officially known as Asian giant hornets (Vespa mandarinia), so-called murder hornets are an invasive pest and not native to the US. This year, however, has seen a number of reports of the aggressive species in Washington State, raising fears the invaders could decimate honeybees and other native bee populations.

To better understand the problem, researchers at Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) have closely studied a hive they managed to track down on October 29. Inside, they discovered around 495 live specimens, including 6 unhatched eggs, 190 larvae, 112 workers, 9 drones, and 76 live queens. They also found over 100 closed capped cells, which contain the pupae of more queens, bringing the total number of queens in the hive to just under 200.

Washington State Department of Agriculture

Rather worryingly, it’s likely that all but one of these queens would be new virgin queens, which would leave the nest, mate, hibernate and reproduce in the following spring.

“It really seems like we get there just in the nick of time," Sven-Erik Spichiger, an entomologist leading the fight to kill the hornets for the WSDA, said at a press conference.

"A small percentage of these queens will go on to form colonies next year had they been given the chance to escape,” he added.

“Even a relatively small nest, such as this, is able to pump out 200 queens. It does give one a bit of pause. Potentially each of those queens could make a nest next year,” explained Spichiger.

Washington State Department of Agriculture

The species is native to the forests and low mountains of eastern and southeast Asia. Measuring in at around 5 centimeters (2 inches) long, Asian giant hornets are the largest species of hornet in the world, with a distinctive orange-colored head and a chunky striped abdomen. They are a significant predator of honeybees and have been known to decimate entire hives.

“The hornets enter a ‘slaughter phase’ where they kill bees by decapitating them. They then defend the hive as their own, taking the brood to feed their own young,” according to the WSDA.

They can also pose a risk to humans. The venom of the species is laced with a potent neurotoxin that can pack a mean punch, often resulting in a large, throbbing, and painful sting. Even if you're not allergic, multiple stings can kill a human. The hornet is thought to kill around 30 to 50 people each year in Japan alone, with most victims dying from anaphylaxis, a sudden heart attack, or multiple organ failure.

Wolves To Be Reintroduced To Colorado After Historic Public Vote



GRAY WOLVES ONCE ROAMED THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS STATES, BUT AFTER DECLINING IN THE 1930S, THEY HAD DISAPPEARED FROM COLORADO BY 1940.

 AB PHOTOGRAPHIE/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

By Tom Hale 10 NOV 2020, 

The people of Colorado have spoken: gray wolves are returning to the state. Last week, Colorado voted to approve Proposition 114, a ballot measure that will see the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission reintroduce and manage gray wolves on designated lands west of the continental divide by the end of 2023. It's the first time in the US the public has ever been asked to make the call over the reintroduction of a wildlife species through a ballot box as the decision is usually left up to state wildlife authorities.

However, it was an extremely tight race, with 1,543,102 (50.64 percent) voting in favor of the initiative and 1,504,228 (49.36 percent) voting to oppose. While many are welcoming the reintroduction of this iconic species, others fear the challenges it might bring.

Wolves were once common across much of North America, not least in Colorado, before the arrival of European colonizers. Overhunting and persecution by farmers reached boiling point by the 1930s when the species started to disappear from many of the Rocky Mountains states, including Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. It’s thought that no wolves remained in the state of Colorado by 1940.

Many conservationists are happy to see the reintroduction of wolves in the state because they play a crucial role in the ecosystem’s food webs. As case studies have shown, bringing wolves back to their natural environments can have a positive knock-on effect on the distribution, abundance, and interactions of a wide range of different species, from insects and vegetation to birds and other mammals. Reintroducing wolves back to Colorado would also establish a critical link in the geographical wolf range of North America.

“Re-establishing wolves in western Colorado could connect the entire North American wolf population from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan through Canada and Alaska, down the Rocky Mountains into Mexico. It would be difficult to overestimate the biological and conservation value of this achievement,” L David Mech, renowned wolf expert and senior research scientist for the Biological Resources Division, US Geological Survey, has previously said.

As the tight vote suggests, not everyone is happy with the plan. Rick Enstrom, 2012 Republican candidate for District 23 of Colorado, who served as Colorado State Wildlife Commissioner from 2000 to 2008, has argued that the reintroduction measure will increase the risk of predation on livestock and pets.

Others have dismissed this as scaremongering. Mike Phillips, a wildlife biologist and wolf expert who serves in the Montana Legislature wrote in a recent op-ed article: “It is the atypical wolf that kills livestock, and losses to wolves represent an insignificant percentage of livestock on public and private range. Consequently, nowhere do depredations represent a threat to livestock industries.”

The recent ballot vote is likely to be made more complicated by the Trump administration's recent decision to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list. NPR suggests this could mean the state won't be able to receive federal grants for the project, but it’s unclear how this twist in the story will pan out just yet.

Female Mongooses Wage War To Mate With Unrelated Males


THE MORTALITY COSTS IN MONGOOSE FIGHTS ARE COMPARABLE TO WARLIKE MAMMALS, INCLUDING LIONS, CHIMPANZEES, AND HUMANS. BANDED MONGOOSE RESEARCH PROJECT

VIDEO https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/female-mongooses-wage-war-to-mate-with-unrelated-males/

By Rachael Funnell 09 NOV 2020


A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has revealed that, for female mongooses, the cost of deadly war is worth it so long as it helps you find a mate. The research found that female banded mongooses will purposefully lead their groups into frays so that they can mate with enemy males while the chaos rages on. The anarchic mating strategy is thought to preserve genetic diversity as female mongooses will rarely leave the family group into which they’re born, meaning they need to get inventive if they want to avoid inbreeding.

The researchers from the University of Exeter and the University of Cambridge, both in the UK, were studying banded mongooses in Uganda and wanted to investigate the motivations behind fighting between groups. Mongooses are known for their violent fights and it's often the males that bear the brunt of the trauma, being the most likely to sustain injuries or even die in a fight.

There are different models of leadership within social groups, and when it comes to waging war these can be heroic or exploitative. Heroic models see the initiators of fights contributing the most to the battle, while exploitative models see initiators sending others into harm’s way while they do little themselves to help.

The researchers used long-term data from wild banded mongooses to test which model was being employed by these animals and found that cross-group fights were mostly being started by females. They found these individuals were starting conflicts as a means of increasing reproduction opportunities, as warring with enemy groups gave them access to unrelated males. The exploitative strategy meant the related males were busy fighting while the frisky females scoped out the competition for worthy suitors.

While it might sound a little savage to sacrifice the safety of your family in the pursuit of procreation, the behavioral adaptation is a necessary one. “Mongooses have family-based groups where older siblings, aunts and uncles all play a role within the group and the raising of offspring,” said ZSL London Zoo keeper Tara Humphrey in an email to IFLScience. “Their groups are more female populated, with only related males who are forced out when they reach sexual maturity.” As such, if females are to avoid inbreeding, they need to find a strong healthy male outside of the family, and where better to judge the survival skills of a partner than in the throes of battle.

"We've known for some time that banded mongoose groups often engage in violent battles and now we know why," said Professor Michael Cant, from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall, in an email statement. "Females start fights between groups to gain genetic benefits from mating with outsiders, while the males within their group, and the group as a whole pay the costs.

"A classic explanation for warfare in human societies is leadership by exploitative individuals who reap the benefits of conflict while avoiding the costs. In this study, we show that leadership of this kind can also explain the evolution of severe collective violence in certain animal societies."

Otters Learn From Their Friends When Solving Puzzles

WHEN IT COMES TO MEATBALLS, IT PAYS TO HAVE FRIENDS. 

GEORGINA HUME






By Rachael Funnell 11 NOV 2020

A new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science has revealed that when it comes to puzzles short-clawed otters get by with a little help from their friends. Led by researchers from the University of Exeter, UK, the study challenged otters to a task that when completed would reward them with food. They found otters could remember the solution when tasked with the same challenge months later, and that they were able to learn from successful friends. The findings reveal new insights regarding long-term memory and social learning in these animals, as well as providing some perennially pleasing footage of otters grabbing things with their adorable hand-paws.

The puzzles at hand (or paw, as it were) were made up of transparent containers baited with delicious meatballs inside. They could be opened by twisting and pulling lids and handles to free the snack, child's play for these tool-wielding jugglers. The otters were tested using the same puzzles several months apart to see how or if their performance differed the second time around. The researchers found that on their second go with the puzzle, the otters solved them 69 percent faster compared to their first try. This finding demonstrates their capacity for long-term memory in remembering the most effective way to extract the meatball.

The otters’ performance also showed evidence of "social learning". When an otter cracked the puzzle, its closest buddies quickly figured it out too. The researchers tested this by first establishing the relationships between the otters (sadly no orangutan friends featured in the study) and finding out which of them spent most of their time together. This meant they could observe how problem-solving techniques passed through the otter groups by seeing whose buddies picked up on their problem-solving techniques.

Otters were able to recall their meatball retrieving tekkers months after their first exposure to the puzzle. Georgina Hume

VIDEO https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/otters-learn-from-their-friends-when-solving-puzzles/

"Asian short-clawed otters are declining in the wild, partly due to overfishing and pollution affecting the crustaceans and small fish they feed on," said lead author Alex Saliveros, of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall, in a statement. “Being able to catch new prey in new ways, and to pass on that knowledge, could be important in terms of conservation.

"Our study is the first to show evidence of social learning and long-term memory in Asian short-clawed otters — which may be good news in terms of their adaptability and future survival."

New Scans Of Ancient Egyptian Mummies Reveal Brain And Other Organs Inside


By Rachael Funnell11 NOV 2020

Researchers have taken a peek inside three wrapped mummies first discovered over 400 years ago. Of Egyptian origin, the remains date from the late third to the middle fourth century CE, slotting within the late Roman Period. After their excavation in the early 17th and late 19th centuries, two of them went on an adventure as part of the collection of the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland August II eventually landing in Dresden, Germany, in 1728. The third was from an Egyptian museum’s collection, which eventually joined the other two in Dresden. As a trio, they represent the only known surviving stucco-shrouded portrait mummies from the ancient Egyptian necropolis of Saqqara.

Stucco-shrouded mummies are unique in the way in which they were buried. The process is an elaborate one, placing the bodies on wooden boards before wrapping them in textiles, plaster, gold, and adorning the end product with a whole-body portrait. Reporting in PLOS ONE, investigations using computed tomography (CT) scans of the portrait mummies revealed an adult male (~25-30 years old), a middle-aged female (~30-40 years old), and a young female (~17-19 years old) were concealed beneath the shrouds. The two females were buried sporting beautiful necklaces and hairpins, while all three contained artifacts that were likely intended as payment to Charon, a Roman and Greek deity said to ferry souls across the River Styx en route to the Underworld.

The shrouded mummies were painted with a full-body portrait. © Zesch S, et al. PLOS One (2020); CC BY 4.0; 

WHAT LAY BENEATH THE PORTRAITS HAD BEEN A MYSTERY FOR OVER 400 YEARS. © ZESCH S, ET AL. PLOS ONE (2020); CC BY 4.0 © SCULPTURE COLLECTION, DRESDEN STATE ART COLLECTIONS, PHOTOS: H.-P. KLUT/E. ESTEL

While all three mummies were kitted out with the same shroud, the two adults were poorly preserved compared to the corpse of the younger female, which the researchers say could have happened before or after they were found and opened back in 1615. However, CT scans revealed the younger female still contained the remains of her brain and several other internal organs, which evidently weren't removed as part of the mummification process.

The brain had shriveled but was complete with brainstem at the base of the skull, as seen in the scan below. There was no evidence of a brain left in the adult male, but curiously there were no signs that it had been drained out via the nose either, or that embalming fluid had been used. The researchers suspect the mummies were only preserved using a desiccation mixture called natron that would dehydrate a water-filled human nicely.

The younger female's brain, while shrunken, was definitely still inside her skull. S Zesch et al. PLOS One 2020, CC BY 4.0

You might be wondering why those in charge of mummifying these people didn't mash up and remove their brains using the nasal scoop technique for which the Ancient Egyptians are famous, but the exact process of mummification, like all fashions, was actually changing all the time.

"It was a common practice to remove the brain and internal organs especially during the 18th and 20th Dynasty (New Kingdom)," lead researcher Stephanie Zesch, a physical anthropologist and Egyptologist at the German Mummy Project at Reiss Engelhorn Museum told IFLScience. "During the later periods of ancient Egypt, the applied techniques of body treatment however showed a greater variety. Previous radiological investigations of Roman Periods mummies already revealed that some showed no evidence of removal of the brain and intestines. The identification of the preserved brain in the case of the young female, thus, supports this idea of changing mummification techniques in the late phase of the mummification tradition in Egypt.

"

The scan also revealed the females had been buried with necklaces (left) and even a hairpin on the younger female (right). S Zesch et al. PLOS One 2020, CC BY 4.0

Cause of death for the three individuals couldn’t be diagnosed using CT, but there were signs of benign conditions such as tooth cavities, arthritis, and growths on their scans. While the lives of these three ancient humans remain a mystery, the research reveals fascinating insights into the burial practices of affluent Egyptians in the late Roman Period.

A LORAX

New Primate Discovered In Myanmar Following Analysis Of 100-Year-Old Specimen

ANOTHER AMAZING FIND IN THE MUSEUM STORAGE ROOM 



THE SPOOKY PRIMATE HANGS OUT IN ONE OF MYANMAR'S MOST SACRED PILGRIMAGE SITES. ©THAUNG WIN


By Rachael Funnell 11 NOV 2020

A new study published in the journal Zoological Research has uncovered a new species of primate in Myanmar after analyzing the mitochondrial DNA of the Asian colobine genus Trachypithecus. The discovery of the ghostly species, named the Popa langur (Trachypithecus popa) hinged on a 100-year-old specimen from the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London, UK. Now that the species has been defined, researchers on the study hope it will reinvigorate conservation efforts for the estimated 200 to 250 remaining individuals that are spread across four isolated groups in Myanmar.

The Popa langur is named after the sacred Mount Popa, an extinct volcano and sacred pilgrimage site that is home to around 100 langurs, making it the largest of the four populations. Throughout Myanmar, these langurs are at risk from habitat loss and hunting to the extent that the researchers have suggested the species be classified as critically endangered.

The defining specimen had been kicking about in London's Natural History Museum for decades. Popa-langur specimen © Trustees of The Natural History Museum

As a genus, Trachypithecus is the most species-rich and widely distributed of the Asian colobine monkeys. Much research has been done regarding the 20 known species but despite this their evolutionary history is something of a mystery. This new research wanted to combine data on the genus to paint a clearer picture of their past, and so collected samples and complete mitochondrial DNA from all 20 known species.

It was during the pursuit of a better understanding of the evolutionary history of this iconic group of primates that the new species was discovered. The differences between Trachypithecus species are subtle, mostly pertaining to fur coloration, tail length, the size of their molars, and skull shape, but genetic analyses of the NHM’s antique specimen alongside samples from other museums and extant animals established the existence of the new species

.

There are only subtle differences between some members of the Trachypithecus genus. Popa-langur specimen © Trustees of The Natural History Museum

“We analyzed 72 sequences of primates and 53 of those were from genus Trachypithecus where this new species belongs,” said Roberto Portela Miguez, senior curator in Charge of Mammals at the NHM, in an email to IFLScience. “It was after combining the results of sequencing from museum samples, fecal samples from populations collected in the wild, and a review of museum specimens that we were able to draw the conclusion that we were working with a new species.”

The study demonstrates how specimens in natural history collections can serve as valuable sources for genetic and taxonomic research as new sequencing techniques emerge that can analyze even 100-year-old DNA. The telltale T. popa specimen was collected in 1913 by Guy C. Shortridge, a British zoologist who collected thousands of specimens during the early 20th century. It's quite remarkable, then, to think that this Popa langur has enabled modern scientists to discover its taxonomic existence over 100 years later.

There are only thought to be 200 to 250 Popa langurs left in the wild. ©Thaung Win

“This is the most comprehensive study done in this group of primates to date, so our understanding of the evolutionary history of the group and the diversity of species within has been enhanced significantly,” Miguez continued. “This piece of work could not have been done without the extraordinary enthusiasm and expertise of collaborators from all over the world, from Myanmar, Germany, Australia, US, Singapore, Vietnam, Netherlands, and more. Thanks to this extraordinary effort, we might be in time to save a species that might otherwise have been overlooked.”